The Importance of Emotions in Photography

Annie Leibovitz is a Jewish woman photographer who was born on October 2, 1949, in Waterbury, Connecticut. She grew up in a middle-class household with her parents and six siblings. After conducting some research I chose to focus on Annie Leibovitz’s photobook, “A Photographer’s Life, 1990-2005”. The photographs in this photo books range from photos of nature, such as rocks, mountains, waterways, to action photos and portraits. What I found interesting though, is the many different themes that she displays in her photobook.

The main theme that I liked was how she represents the emotion of the people in her photographs. There are a wide range of emotions in her photobook, from happy, to sad, to angry, too tired, etc. After she was done creating her work she stated, “This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it.” She does not want to keep her personal life and business life separate because they are a part of each other. Critics and historians talk about how we have to look at her work through her personal life and professional life together because they can not be separated in this case.

Her photobook is about the life of her lover and the illness and death of her (Susan Sontag). As a Jewish woman during this time, she had to compete with all the other male photographers out there that people followed more. In addition, she was also a lesbian, which at the time was looked down upon and a lot of people did not want to associate with these kinds of people. This made it tough at first for her but she was such a good photographer that nothing held her back. This photo book followed the illness and death of her lover and this book allowed her to enjoy the moments and pictures of her life rather than just feeling the negatives of it. This photobook allowed her to create something that is professional but also close to her heart. These three photographs are photographs that Leibovitz included in her photobook. As a result, the reason why I chose these photographs is because they show the different emotions that someone can have through their life. They give me a variety of emotions that I will be able to then use to photograph my pictures.

 

Methodology: What are the methods your artist uses in his/her photography? How did you attempt to see through his/her point of view by taking your own photos?

As a result of looking through Annie Leibovitz’s photo book, A Photographers Life, it is obvious that this well-written book offers us a look into her personal life through photographs. The photographs that she took offer us a view of her life through her eyes. She did not just take these photographs of people or places she went; she basically gave her readers a timeline of her life during and after photography.

Throughout her photobook, it is clear to me that most of her pictures are filled with different emotions. Some of her pictures were candid and some were staged. As a result of this, I figured out a way to take photographs that show emotion on my phone, and I captured staged pictures and some live/in the moment pictures. Her influence allowed me to really think about how I wanted to take my photographs. These three photographs that are demonstrated below are pictures that Leibovitz included in her wonderful photobook that help me prove my thesis.

When considering what photograph to take it is important to think of everything that goes into a photo. The subject is very important, but when and where the photos are captured are just as important. I took photographs in my house and outside my house varying from pictures of my family and pictures of my friends. Since Leibovitz’s photobook consists of photographs that are emotional and represent her life, I captured images that I feel an emotion or connection to. This was my main goal while capturing my photographs. I wanted to be able to show all the different emotions a person can go through just like how Leibovitz does in her photographs.

Photos & Analysis: Presentation of your own photographs inspired by that point of view. Text articulating what taking your own pictures taught you about the photographer’s point of view and its relevance. What is liberating about the point of view you’ve chosen to explore? How does it challenge you to look at the world differently?

 

Selected photos:

Slideshow 1: LEFT TO RIGHT (my photographs)

Slideshow 2: LEFT TO RIGHT (Leibovitz’s photographs)

 

Throughout the process of taking pictures and studying how Annie Leibovitz takes her photographs, I miss judged how difficult and complicated the process actually is. I learned that there are a lot of parts that go into making a good photograph. While taking my own photos and thinking about my photographer’s style of photos, it took me a few tries before I started to realize how I had to take my pictures. Also, taking a good staged photograph has a lot of different important characteristics. I realize it wasn’t just about having someone in the picture, it was about the emotions that they show within the picture. In most cases the subject/the person is the most important component of most of her photographs, that is why my photographs mainly focus on the subject/the person. What I have realized though as well is that although the subject is very important, the background is too. Certain backgrounds in her photographs really allow you to focus on the subject while also being able to admire the study of its background. 

In addition, I noticed a few characteristics after I started taking pictures that were not presenting what I wanted them to present. First, I realize that taking photographs at a specific angle is very important. In addition to the subject being very important in the picture, as I mentioned earlier, the background and the landscape are also very important. The challenging part about taking pictures like my photographer was that I did not know the best angle that I should take my pictures at. Another challenging part was finding a good background to takes these pictures with. While taking photographs of my sister I was not sure whether to take them outside or inside. As well as, I was not sure what to have in the background. After testing many different backgrounds around us I finally found the best one. In addition, photographing non-staged pictures that show emotion was very hard. It is very popular for example to see the emotion in people when they are playing a sport but when people are just going about their normal lives it is not easy to see someone’s emotion. One photograph that I took that I really enjoyed was the one of my sister getting ready to jump while she was doing gymnastics. I was able to capture the dark clouds in the background, the focus in her face due to the angle I was in, and the clouds in the back along with the natural light allowed for a good balance in the overall lighting of the photograph. I chose this photograph because it hits all the points that Leibovitz shows in her photographs. It brings out all the important characteristics when it comes to taking a photograph. 

Obviously while taking pictures some things will work well and some things won’t. The most difficult part of taking the pictures was to find subjects that I could take the pictures of. Based on my schedule and other people’s schedules it was hard at first to take photographs. In addition, some things that worked well was that my sister does gymnastics and we were able to stage some photographs to show the emotion in her face. What really surprised me was how much the angle of the photograph matters. The angle in photographs really changes the overall view of the picture. In addition, I was surprised at how good some of the photographs came out to be. My original idea was to take photographs of my sister doing gymnastics. After I started taking photographs I realize that getting different subjects involved will improve my photo book. In addition, getting different backgrounds will make my pictures look even better and can really bring out the emotion in the subjects. Adding on, while taking photographs I wanted to capture pictures that represent familiar, everyday realities. This related back to Orvell because he claimed that photography is used to represent people’s everyday realities. I went around my house to see what was going on. From my sister cleaning to her sleeping or my mom getting upset at my sister, I was able to capture what it is like in my house. This related to how Leibovitz captured photographs of her life and her wife’s life. 

While taking photographs I kept thinking about what it means to be a photo icon and how was Leibovitz a photo icon. In a book by Hans-Michael Koetzle titled Photo Icon: The Story Behind The Pictures, he states that a photo icon “is a key image from the history of the medium: images that have pushed photography forward in terms of either its technology, aesthetics or social relevance.” I wanted to see if I could somehow take an iconic photo, but I did not realize how difficult it actually was. Photographers like Robert Frank and Robert Capa were put into situations in which they could capture an iconic photograph while I personally was not. Even though an iconic photo can be taken from anywhere, I just do not have the expertise that professional photographers have. In addition, while trying to take photographs like my photographer I could have taken many different characteristics and styles from her and implemented them into my photos. Rather than doing that, I decided to focus on the emotions of my subject (as stated earlier. Ideas like blurry photos or making them black and white could have made my photographs similar to Leibovitz but by focusing on one part allowed for my pictures to turn out better. 

Before getting this assignment I did not think about how photographs were taken. With my friends whenever we took pictures we would just get our phones to take the picture and that was it we didn’t care about the anglers or even the background. After studying photographers and taking pictures of my own I have come to a sense that taking good pictures is not easy and requires a lot of different components and as a result of this assignment I now have a different look on photographers. From now on whenever I take pictures with my friends or family I will make sure I take the best picture possible because a lot of different components as mentioned earlier go into taking a good photograph and I want to be able to accomplish that. Overall I really enjoyed this project and being able to take photos of my friends and family. Lastly, I liked how I was able to think more like a photographer while taking these pictures which resulted in s great experience. 

 

Conclusion: Did you come to understand your Jewish photographer differently after taking your own photos? What did you learn about your thesis?

After considering the photos that I took I do not necessarily come to a different understanding of what my photographer was trying to do, I just came to a deeper meaning. Relating back to my central claim I learned that when you want to capture the emotion in a picture and show how important it is, there are many factors that go into that. In addition, I learned a lot from my thesis. As mentioned above I learned that you can’t just capture the emotion of the subject in the picture without considering other factors and characteristics like background, angles, and lighting.

As a result of doing this project in the 21st century, I now have a better understanding of what the 20th century was like. I believe that there is not a big distinction between the two centuries but that photography now is easier than it was back then because of our advancement in technology. Therefore, what Leivobitz and other photographers accomplished back then was remarkable due to the limitations they were faced with. 

Ari,

Good conclusion. I would break the paragraph into two, starting a new one with the sentence: “As a result of me doing . . . ” only change that sentence to read, “As a result of doing this . . . ”

I notice that you added two videos to the opening thesis statement. They are both good videos but only one of them deals with the photobook that you are discussing. Please cut the video on Leibovitz’s book Women. In addition, please identify Leibovitz’s photographs and give her credit.

I also see that you’ve cut out the comments that I posted in response to the different sections. It would be helpful to leave my comments in because I refer to them.

DDM

Sources: List of all your sources with hyperlinks. Be sure to separate photo sources from written research sources.

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/leibovitz-annie/life-and-legacy/

http://www.tfaoi.com/cm/4cm/4cm526.pdf

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17514517.2017.1361142?src=recsys&journalCode=rfpc20

http://www.art-dog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Annie-Leibovitx-A-Photographers-Life-1990-2005.pdf

An evening with Annie Leibovitz between memories, emotions and intimacy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Leibovitz